Ertharu Topographic Map WIP

[TaylorH]

Hello, all. As some of you may know, I'm a long standing contributor of Sarithus' and have helped develop lore over the years for the world known as Sarturus (and other universes since discarded). I thought I might try my hand at mapping. Well, I've made maps in the past, mostly digital, but I'm more of a traditional sort of person so I'm trying plain old paper and pencil. I want my maps to stand out (mostly from Sarithus's) and so I've decided to attempt a traditional contour-line style map of the Ertharu forest region of the central belt of Ulthui (Thyandul).

I'm new to this, but I've done some research and I think I get the general jist of it, having remembered some of it from when I was learning how to read hill walking topographic maps. Right now I feel fairly constrained to my knowledge of how to technically draw the contour lines and everything so I haven't done much. Does it look right so far? I have darker index lines (every fifth line) and the lighter contour lines. Lines further apart obviously show a more gentle gradient, for those who don't know. I'm sort of confused how to 'cap' the hills though, and where to put the last index lines. For example, as you can see on the left hill I have one index line at the base of the hill, elevating up to the next index and then I hit the plateau, but I also want a small hill on the plateau (represented by the two contour lines). Can it just be left like this? Again the trouble with this is you have to know how to represent such natural features as river valleys and an so forth using the lines and I'm not sure I know how to yet. All in the practice I suppose.

Since I'm not that great at art, I thought I might redeem myself by making a more technical or realistic representation, complete with elevation figures and so forth (to be added later.) We'll see how it goes! Hopefully it should look better once inked.



Thanks.

[TaylorH]

Not sure if bumping is allowed on CG, but would appreciate any feedback. I know it's not much at all, but just wondering if I'm on the right track.

[Sarithus]

If I'm right about elevation lines, I believe you can also draw them while maintaining the same line width or have them increase in thickness as the height increases. That might look a bit better than a darker line every 5'th line, but I do see the advantage of doing it like that. Interesting to see Xanturion enclosed by mountains/hills in this version.

[TaylorH]

Making some good progress on this map, but made a pretty dire mistake on pen-pass so have to wait until I can get tipex!

[TaylorH]

Update!

This is more of a prototype of the Ertharu region map. I redone the entire thing and so far I'm quite happy with the topographical style. I took inspiration from map of southern Middle Earth which is largely in the same style, located at the front of RotK. I'm going to digitally remove the tipex marks later on. I'm going to finish up by adding some forest, but I'm not entirely sure how best to represent this. The entire region is forested, even the hills, so not sure how to draw in breaks or clearings and so forth. Any suggestions?




Thanks for looking.

[TaylorH]

And here's the final with a few digital touch-ups to remove mistakes. I know it's not the biggest or most complex map, but I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I think I'll continue this ink style (see Teldrassil map wip). I couldn't quite figure out a way to represent the forest coverage, but it should suffice to say that the whole area is pretty much covered in deciduous trees with only a few minor breaks. This map was supposed to show the topography of Ertharu anyway.



Thanks.

P.s. is it good etiquette on CG to post the same map again in Finished Maps?

[Sarithus]

And here's the final with a few digital touch-ups to remove mistakes. I know it's not the biggest or most complex map, but I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I think I'll continue this ink style (see Teldrassil map wip). I couldn't quite figure out a way to represent the forest coverage, but it should suffice to say that the whole area is pretty much covered in deciduous trees with only a few minor breaks. This map was supposed to show the topography of Ertharu anyway.



Thanks.

P.s. is it good etiquette on CG to post the same map again in Finished Maps?

I usually leave the last version for the finished map section but no one will mind if you repost it there.

[Pixie]

Other than the strange choice by the river "The Green Way" to cut his way through the middle of the only standing mountain in his path... the rest looks very good and even natural.